SUP boarding next to the Burj Al Arab

I warned you all there would be a lot of posts about Dubai. Welcome to the first one! I wanted to share some pics with you guys and my experience of ‘Stand up paddle boarding’. Spoiler alert, I’m shit at it and I much prefer sitting down – in all circumstances.

However it was a lot of fun. For those of you who don’t know what SUP boarding is, it’s basically standing up on what looks like a strange version of a surf board and shoving a stick into the water to push yourself along. Sounds easy right? Ha, wrong. It’s not. Trying to balance yourself in the sea and then stand up while pushing this stick in and out of the water without falling off and being eaten by jellyfish and sharks is difficult. I’m aware that sounds dramatic but honestly, I can’t be the only one who gets into the sea and automatically thinks jaws is coming for them? Please tell me there are more of you out there. Also there were actual jellyfish in the water that day, hence why I really had no plans to fall in. That and, once you fall off your board, it’s kind of hard to get back on! It’s meant to be really good for you. For your abs etc, although I think the only logical reason it’s good for your abs is because you’re tensing so much at the thought of becoming man overboard. See what I did there?

Anyway! I went with my sister and Luke’s sister. My sister does SUP boarding often now, she claims it’s a nice exercise, whereas I don’t think there’s such a thing as a ‘nice exercise’ but each to their own! And Luke’s sister, Alexia managed to pick it up pretty easily. To the point where they were both able to take effortless pictures together standing up, and yeah i’m in the pictures too, the only difference is I look like i’m stuck to the board and when i’m trying to stand I look like i’m in pain. Don’t let the smiles fool you!

It was a pretty funny experience, getting stuck near rocks and shouting PIVOT, PIVOT! (If you don’t watch Friends then shame on you). We managed to get some pretty pics with the Burj in the background, and although it’s not something I found remotely easy, if there was another day with another pretty picture to be taken – i’d jump on that board again! And I did finally get a picture where I look semi comfortable. YAY ME!

We hired the boards and paddles from the Surf Cafe which is located near the public beach on Jumeirah Beach Road, you can check it out on google maps here it has more than just SUP boarding equipment but I don’t think we were going to be much more adventurous than that. We hired these boards for an hour at AED 75 which works out to roughly £15 each. After this we were absolutely starving. The Surf Cafe has a beautiful little restaurant on the other side of it’s shop which serves bloody fantastic food. I had a breakfast wrap which had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, avocado, and ketchup in a tortilla wrap with hash browns on the side. Perfect. They also do amazing Acai bowls with loads of fresh fruit and chia seeds on top. Very instagram worthy I promise. To finish off we had chocolate Bunyols, which are pretty much deep fried chocolate balls that are melted in the middle, and are surprisingly light to eat meaning you could happily munch through 70 portions. No exaggeration. Seriously yummy food for a reasonable price.

So if you’re ever in Dubai and want to do something that’s not so ‘typical tourist’ why not try out SUP boarding in front of the Burj Al arab! When you’re super hungry from all of the water activity head on down to the Surf Cafe and enjoy some of those yummy chocolate balls. SUP boarding is hard, but it’s definitely worth a go if you want something to have a laugh at! Have you guys done SUP boarding before? Let me know what you thought about it, or any other water sports you think i’d fail at miserably!

Ahhhh love this for so many reasons!
1. I went paddle boarding for the first time in France this summer and lovvvved it, though it took a while to get my balance!
2. Loved the friends reference 😂
3. I’m going to Dubai in March next year! Need all the tips I can get, I’m SO excited.

Ooh love it! I’ve done so many shoots around this area when I visit Dubai it’s the best! I always stick to the beach though, so next time I’ll have to try getting in the water!http://www.saharasplash.com